Second Best
by SilverSmile
Summary: Riza takes a moment to look at some photographs and realises the painful truth about her husband... Light yaoi, RxR RxE.


Just a small one-shot that I thaught up while trying to work on some other stories.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to FMA.

Enjoy!

Delzy

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She quietly crept into his office, looking around to make sure he was nowhere in sight before entering. Her eyes swept over the room she had barely seen since they had moved into the house more than thirty years ago. She only hopped snooping in her husband's office might offer her the answer she was looking for.

It was a modest sized room, with red wood shelves and a large desk. Papers were surprisingly neatly stacked to one side of the desk and a small pad of paper and two pens were resting innocently on the other side below a small green desk lamp. The shelves were piled high with books on all different subjects, though the most obvious one being alchemy.

She looked around the room with the aid of the bright sunlight streaming in through the large windows behind the desk. Creamy coloured drapes were pulled to either side of the window and held there with silken ties. A smallish black couch was in front of the desk while a side table rested to its left. Throughout the room she noticed three photographs. She found her eyes being drawn to them and moved toward the closest one which was on the book shelf besides the door.

In it she found herself and Roy on their wedding day. She saw herself looking more beautiful then she'd ever imagined she would in her white gown and her husband standing straight in his military attire. Though even she could see something dark lurked behind his eye. Something suggested that this wasn't the happiest moment of his life, like it was supposed to be. There was something missing from his eye. His smile was more of a smirk and the eyes patch over his damaged eye still looked slightly out of place to her, even after all these years.

She moved on to the next picture which was seated upon the small side table beside the black leather couch. In it was a picture of Roy and Maes when they had been younger and the scars from the Ishbal war were finally beginning to close over somewhat. Maes was smiling brightly, one arm slung over Roys' shoulders as Roy stood with his arms crossed – a smirk on his lips. Yet, even in this photo, Roy's eyes were haunted and missing something. He wasn't smiling and he stood with a slightly ridged pose.

Beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea, she moved over to the last photo in the room which was located right on his desk. Looking at it she felt sadness and an almost bitter sense of irony at the sight of the golden eyes staring back at her.

The image wasn't terribly good, the edges were slightly blurry and the two in the frame obviously hadn't been expecting that they were about to be photographed. The younger of the two was looking into the camera lens as though someone had simply called out his name to get his attention. His eyes were bright with laughter and a large, though slightly confused, grin stretched across his face. Roy was across from him and he was staring at him with a soft smile. His dark eyes were almost sparkling they were so full of joy and happiness.

With a sinking heart Riza realised what was missing from Roys' eyes in the other two photos… love.

She knew without a doubt that if Edward Elric turned up in Central tomorrow, and asked Roy to stay with him, Roy would do so without a second thought. She had known when they had first started dating, two years after the Elric brothers had disappeared again; that Roy only saw her as second best. Yet, she loved him so much that she'd not thought it would be too much of an issue. She thought she could love them enough for the both of them.

Seeing this picture displayed proudly so he could see it every day, she knew what a fool she had been. Roy would always love Edward more, would always wish that it was him he shared a bed with, shared a life with. It was always going to be Edward that held his heart, and it would always be Edward that Roy willingly allowed to see the real him.

It didn't matter what she did, she couldn't win.

She felt a tear slowly make its way down her cheek as another realisation hit her. Although Roy would always leave her for Edward without a seconds thought, she would always let him.

She knew what he felt all the time, the sadness of not having the one you loved right beside him. The only difference between her and her husband, was that she got to see her love every day while he would never see his again.

She knew he was hurting, yet looking at what he had been with Edward to what he was with her… it was like two totally different people. Looking again at the image of him with Edward, she realised that it was the Roy with Edward that she had fallen in love with. The Roy without Edward was so cold and withdrawn, so sad and hurt.

The sound of crunching gravel pulled her away from her thoughts and, looking out the window behind her, she could see Roy getting out of a Military car. Taking one last glance at the picture sitting on his desk where he was young, carefree and happy; she moved away and to the door. Taking a deep breath she rubbed a hand over her face for a moment to remove all traces of tears and put on a happy smile for her love. Closing the door she tried to shut out the image of a smiling Roy with his sparkling dark eyes so full of love. A sight she knew would never be directed at herself.

She understood that as he was no longer able to smile like he had, that he was much too sad. She would have to be brave and continue playing pretend with their lives. She would be there for Roy for as long as he would let her. She just bitterly wished he could be happy with _her_. It wasn't fair, it never would be. Edward would always be his first thought in the morning and his last thought each night before sleep…

A bitter smile crossed her lips.

She just wished that she wasn't second best.

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Please Reivew.


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